4.5 million takes dip in Sangam on Paush Purnima: No incident reported

January 28, 2013 6:06 am

Agencies, Kumbh Nagar Over 4.5 million people, including one million Kalpwasis, today took a dip in the Sangam on the second ritual bathing day Paush Purnima which passed off peacefully without any incident.

The authorities were expecting around 5.5 million devotees to take a dip on the occasion and have made all arrangements for the purpose. But the turnout was less than expected. Divisional Commissioner Devesh Chaturvedi told mediapersons here today that over 4.5 million devotees have taken a dip in the Sangam. “The bathing was incident free and there was not a single case of drowning,” he said. But during the bathing, several people got lost and they got attached with their family members through the public announcement system.

The added attraction for today’s bathing was the first ‘snan’ (bathing) of one million Kalpwasis, who start their one-month-long stay in the ‘magh’ month in the mela from today. Kalpwasis are said to be staying around 1,000 bighas land and would be taking holy dip three times a day. hey would also be sleeping on bare ground and would take meals once a day. Majority of Kalpwasis had their dip in the sangam in the early hours today, who had come from different states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab and had arrived on the banks of Ganga for their month-long stay. Meanwhile, reports of Paush Purnima bathing were also reported from other parts of Uttar Pradesh including Ayodhya, Gonda, Varanasi, Kanpur,Garhmukteshwar, Kanpur and other places. No incident was reported from anywhere, officials claimed.